


Fairy Lights

by Springray



Category: Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket - Takaya Natsuki (Manga), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Coming of Age, Eventual Romance, First Love, Friendship, Multi, Slow Burn, again i don't know how to tag
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2020-12-28 23:36:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21145106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Springray/pseuds/Springray
Summary: What would happen if the Fruits Basket cast met at Hogwarts instead of in Japan? Yuki desperately wants to leave the Sohma estate, but when the opportunity arises he begins to wonder whether he really has what it takes to become a full fledged wizard. Until he meets a kindhearted woman who introduces him to her daughter and her friends, and then everything changes.





	1. Chapter 1

Yuki Sohma stood as far from his mother as possible as he watched children of all ages shouting cheerful goodbyes to their loving parents and siblings. His face was closed off as he waited for the inevitable scolding he would get once his mother thought nobody was looking, and he caught a few concerned glances from other, more caring adults. He imagined what it would be like to have a parent that cared, that would check on him and hug him if he was sad. His imagination couldn’t really stretch that far.

Out of the corner of his eye, Yuki saw a few girls about his age all stood together, two of them tearfully hugging a woman with shoulder-length dyed hair while the third stood quietly by, watching with eyes full of something Yuki couldn’t quite determine. She was quickly pulled into a hug by the woman, and then all four of them were hugging each other tightly. Yuki heard snippets of their conversation, and was surprised to hear them speaking Japanese. They were going to scotland, and while Yuki and many of the Sohma’s went to Hogwarts, he didn’t see any reason for other Japanese witches or wizards to go there. He looked away suddenly as they all started crying again, feeling awkward at witnessing such a sentimental, private moment.

“Yuki.” He was jolted back to reality when he saw his mother’s fake smile as she pulled him close. She leaned in until her mouth was next to her ear, careful not to hug him. 

“Don’t disappoint me. You know what happens if you fail, remember you can always go back to Akito.” 

Yuki stood in his mother’s tight grip, her nails like claws against his formal, chinese style shirt, and nodded mutely. Seemingly appeased, she let go, never having been close enough for an actual embrace, and let out a loud coo, lamenting to anyone who could hear about just how much she would miss her son. When she noticed his hands shaking slightly in balled fists, her eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly until, with one last lazy wave, she walked back through the platform and disappeared. And then Yuki was alone.

\---

The warning for departure sounded, and the mob of students and parents grew even thicker as last farewells were cried out. Yuki tried to become as small as possible, huddling against his luggage as praying no one would accidentally push into him enough for it to count as a hug. His eyes closed as his breathing turned ragged, pinpricks of tears forming in the corner of his eyes as he rocked slightly back and forth.

A tap on Yuki’s shoulder made him whirl around.

“Excuse me, would you like some help getting your things onto the train?” The same woman that he had noticed before was standing right in front of him, a small grin on her face as the three young girls stood talking behind her, no luggage in sight. He vigorously wiped his eyes as he looked up, terrified that she had seen him in a moment of weakness. A thought popped up in his mind asking if there was any way she could have been sent to gather information on him, and if he should make some kind of run for it while he still could. He pushed the thought away angrily, remembering that this was his one chance to get away from everything he feared. 

“I…” Yuki had no idea what to say. He didn’t want to be seen as someone who needed help, but his trolley was heavy and he was small and tired. As he looked up at her in fear, eyes searching her face wildly for a sign of something, she smiled gently and grabbed the handle. 

“It’s no trouble. I’ll take it to the same compartment as these girls.” She nudged a brown haired girl forward, incidentally causing Yuki to scramble backward until his back was flush against a pillar. He immediately realized how rude he must seem and a faint blush spread across his pale face until he heard the booming laugh that came from the girl’s mother.

“She doesn’t bite, dear.” She grinned. “This is Tohru, my adorable daughter! And this is Hana-chan,” She gestured to the serious looking black haired girl who was sporting an extremely goth look, “And Uo-chan!” She patted the loud blonde girl’s shoulder, who grinned. “Yo.”

“Although,” She continued after a moment’s thought, “I suppose since you’ll be speaking English, you can drop the honorifics.” She started pushing the trolley along until she disappeared into the train and Yuki was left with the three girls. 

“Hi there!” The brown haired girl- Tohru- said cheerfully. “What’s your name?”

Yuki looked up shyly. He’d never talked to someone who wanted to know anything about him before. “I’m Yuki. Nice to meet you.”

“So, you’re Japanese too, then?” Uo-san, or whatever Yuki should call her, asked.

“Yes, my family is Japanese, but we’ve all gone to Hogwarts for generations.” He wasn’t used to talking to so many people, he thought idly as the girls advanced towards him. He started to sweat.

Tohru seemed to notice this, stopping her movements and interrupting Uo-san’s enthusiastic “Wow! So you must be a pureblood!”

“I think we should probably get on the train…”

“Tohru,” Uo-san’s teary voice bawled as she grabbed her in a fierce hug. “You’re so smart. I wouldn’t have even noticed.”

“You don’t notice much, Arisa.” Hana-san said in a completely monotone voice.

“Oi, don’t you start, Hanajima. We have to go, anyway. Come on, pretty boy.”

The three of them all crowded around the entrance to to train, and got on easily enough. They were the last few people to board. Yuki followed behind at a somewhat slower pace, still a bit overwhelmed. 

As Tohru’s mother came out of a compartment and more tearful goodbyes were said, Yuki stayed back and watched from a distance until she finally walked off the train with a final wink to Yuki and cheery wave to the four of them. Tohru wiped the tears from her eyes as her two friends surrounded her, hugging her and murmuring words of comfort into her ears. She smiled gratefully at them, mumbling about how lucky she was to have such good friends.

They beckoned at Yuki to follow them, until they walked into a compartment that seemed to have all of their luggage already inside it. Yuki, grateful to have people to sit with, barely noticed the other boy in the room until he heard an angry growl from the seat by the window.

“What the hell are you doing here, rat?” 

An orange haired, sloppily dressed young boy was glaring at him with as much ferocity as he seemed to be able to muster.

Of course. When things finally started to go alright, of course a certain cat would ruin the day by making him miserable. Yuki sighed as kyo bounced to his feet, looking ready to start a fight, and sat down in the seat by the door, the furthest away from where Kyo stood.

“Probably the same thing you’re doing here, I’d imagine.”

“You idiot! Go find a different compartment to sit in if you don’t want me to destroy you! I was here first and I don’t want to have to see you the whole time.”

While Kyo and Yuki had begun arguing, the three girls watched the back and forth in confusion. 

“Umm, Yuki-san, what’s going on?” Tohru asked timidly.

“Don’t worry, Tohru-san. This is my cousin, Kyo, but he’s just an idiot. You don’t have to pay attention to him.”

Kyo squawked angrily as Yuki insulted him.

“Ahh… so you don’t get along, then?”

Yuki coughed. “No, we don’t I’m afraid. I can kick him out, if you want.” He paused nervously. “Or I could leave, if it would be easier.”

“No!” Tohru spoke forcefully, surprising everyone in the room. Uotani and Hanajima had been watching interestedly, and they looked to Tohru as she almost shouted with their eyebrows raised.

“... I mean, umm, I think we should all try and get along! This is going to be a long train ride, after all.” She told them earnestly.

After that, they all sat down, Yuki and Hanajima on one side and Tohru, Uotani, and Kyo on the other. Yuki watched Kyo eye Uotani nervously from where he sat, making sure to put as much space between them as possible.

“So!” Tohru began to speak abruptly. “I think we should all try and get to know one another! We can start with names, because Kyo-san missed them earlier.”

“Ugh,” Kyo groaned. “Stop it with the ‘san’. We’re not in Japan anymore.”

Yuki rolled his eyes angrily. Trust Kyo to be rude to the first person who was nice to him.

“Right! Sorry! Well, I’m Honda Tohru. Wait! I mean, Tohru Honda. Nice to meet you.” Kyo nodded at her. 

“I’m Arisa Uotani. Sup?” Uotani saluted at Kyo cheerily.

“I am Saki Hanajima. Nice to meet you.” Hanajima said calmly, her eyes narrowed as she watched Kyo. He shivered visibly as she spoke.

“And you already know Yuki.” Tohru said anxiously, as if willing them not to start a fight again. 

“Anyway,” Uotani began, “It’s both of your first years at Hogwarts?”

“Yes,” Yuki nodded. “And you?”

“Yep!” Uotani hugged Tohru again. “We’re all excited about it. We weren’t sure if we’d all get in, but Tohru’s mom came here on an exchange when she went to school, and convinced them to let both me and Tohru come. She says it’s good to ‘learn about the world’ or something. And Hanajima has her own strange connections.”

“Oh, do you come from a large wizarding family, Hanajima-san?” Yuki asked curiously.

She turned her head to look straight at him and her eyes burned intimidatingly as she said, “Something like that,” in the most mysterious tone Yuki had ever heard. He could swear he saw electricity coming from her head. Well. That was the last he would be asking about that.

Tohru smiled at Yuki. “So why are you going to Hogwarts, Yuki-san? Or, sorry, Yuki. It’s hard to get used to the way to talk here, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is," he said sympathetically. "I come from a large wizarding family, the Sohmas. We go back for generations, and they made a deal with the government of some kind that we would all go to Hogwarts for some sort of peace treaty. I’m not sure of the details, but here we are.” He motioned to Kyo and himself.

“So you’re like all important then.” Uotani grinned, bowing to Yuki from her seat. “I’m sorry we’ve been so informal, your highness.”

Kyo snickered when Yuki blushed awkwardly. “We’re really no different, I promise you.”

“Sure, sure, Prince Yuki.”

The compartment erupted into laughter as Yuki backtracked and denied until he gave up, seeing as Uotani, joined by Kyo, wouldn’t stop anytime soon.

\---

As the sky outside turned from blue to pink, the group became more comfortable with each other (other than Yuki and Kyo, who could be caught glowering at each other every few minutes). When the sweets trolley came along, they all agreed to split their money and try a little bit of everything.

The treats were different than the wizarding sweets they had in Japan, and they were eager to try something so new. As time wore on, and they were all content and full, Tohru suggested that they all change into their robes before they arrived at the school.

A conversation broke out as they pulled on their new robes. “So,” Uotani began, “What houses do you think you’ll be sorted into, then? Other than Tohru, of course. That’s obvious.”

A chorus of ‘Hufflepuff’ rose from the group, and Tohru blushed bashfully. “We don’t know that for sure! I could be a Slytherin in disguise!”

“Tohru, if you’re a Slytherin, I think you’ll have a lot of explaining to do. You’re my precious cinnamon roll.” Uotani patted Tohru’s head.

“What do you think you’ll be, Uotani?” Yuki asked.

“Gryffindor!” She roared excitedly. “I have too much energy for anywhere else.”

“Good luck to the Gryffindors,” Kyo muttered under his breath.

“Eh? What was that?” Uotani glowered over him, until their yelling drowned out any other conversation.

“And you, Yuki?” Tohru asked, when the fighting had quieted enough for the others to hear each other.

“Ah, well I don’t think I’ll be a Gryffindor or a Hufflepuff, but other than that I’m not so sure. Ravenclaw would be nice.”

“Yes, Ravenclaw is a nice choice.” Hanajima monotoned. “Although I prefer Slytherin myself.”

“So you think you’ll be a Slytherin, Hanajima?” Yuki asked.

“I will be a Slytherin, yes.” Hanajima responded, staring unblinkingly at Yuki.

“How.. nice.” He said awkwardly. He already liked the girls a lot, but he had to admit they were a strange group.

The train started slowing down, and Uotani and Kyo stopped squabbling in order to look out of the window with the others.

It was dark, and they had arrived in what looked like a town of some sort.

“Well, here we go.” Uotani said, and they all moved to get off the train.

\---

The giant man yelling for the first years startled Yuki, but he was paying more attention to staying out of the way of girls to think too much about it. He noticed from Kyo’s slumped form that he was wary of the crowd as well, but didn’t say anything to him. He wasn't going to be the one to bridge the gap between them. The kids were rushed onto boats in what seemed to be a lake, but Yuki wasn’t completely sure. He found himself sitting next to Hanajima in a little rocky boat, and he nervously leaned to the side to make sure it didn't turn over. Hanajima didn’t seem to notice, watching calmly as the other students found spots in the boats. Tohru and Uotani sat down in one together, and Kyo sat with a dark haired boy Yuki didn’t recognize. Kyo didn't seem to recognize him either, as he was sitting awkwardly and not trying to have any kind of conversation with him.

The boats began to move, and gasps were heard as the giant, glittering castle came into view. Yuki had never seen anything like it; he was used to fancy buildings but this was so completely Western in the architecture. 

“Hana-chan! Isn't it beautiful?” Tohru called across the water.

“Yes, it is.” She smiled back at Tohru, and Yuki realized that the expression that had been on her face so often was affection. He smiled quietly to himself. Hanajima wasn’t nearly as unfeeling as she outwardly presented. 

The students murmured together until they got off the boats and were herded into the castle through the largest doors Yuki had ever seen. It was well lit inside, and he took a moment to look at the other students. Most of them looked nervous, some were chattering loudly with one another, all were looking with trepidation at what might be behind another door that had sounds of many people talking and laughing inside it. Yuki himself wasn’t particularly nervous. Whatever was in there must be better than where he came from, so he didn’t bother to let fear overrun his other emotions as he watched the others natter uneasily.

A sharp clicking of heels against the wood alerted all the first years of an approaching professor. Her hair was tied up behind a decadent witch hat, and her features were stern and no-nonsensical. 

“You will follow me into the dining hall in a few moments to be sorted…” Yuki’s mind wandered as he thought about the sorting. How did it work? Would he have to speak in front of everyone? Why was this professor so seemingly strict, and would they all be like that? The questions were all swiped out of his mind as he looked up to see the doors opening, and the students being ushered into the loud, intimidating hall.


	2. Chapter 2

The sorting hat was rather stupid, thought Yuki scornfully. It was tattered and dirty and had been on the heads of thousands of students. What if one of them had magical lice? And they had to go up and sit in front of the whole school, and listen to what this ridiculous hat had to say to them while everyone stared. No, it didn't seem at all nice.

The professor, who was called McGonagall, was about to start reading names off the list, and in front of Yuki Tohru was grasping her friend’s hands nervously. Yuki wasn’t exactly sure why, since they all seemed to have been fairly certain which house they would be in on the train, but he smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring manner when Tohru glanced up at him.

“Aronowitz, Alison.” Was the first name called upon by the intimidating professor. Yuki watched as a red haired girl walked up to the stool, her feet tapping against the stone floors as all eyes were set on her. Her face was flushed nervously and she almost dropped the hat as she put it on her head, and chuckled awkwardly as she looked back at all the faces throughout the room. After a few seconds, the hat called out “Ravenclaw!” and the ravenclaw table burst into cheers as the young girl ran over, all smiles and relief evident on her face. Yuki wondered which house she was so relieved not to be in.

“Hanajima, Saki.” Was the first person Yuki knew to be called up. She glanced at Tohru as Tohru squealed and then hugged Hanajima fiercely, until moved to where the hat was placed. “Slytherin!” It yelled, and she calmly put the hat away and walked to the Slytherin table, looking mildly uncomfortable as a few housemates clapped her on the back.

Tohru was next, but was immediately put into Hufflepuff to the surprise of no one who knew her. The boy who had been sat next to Kyo on the boat, apparently called Kakeru Manabe, was placed into Gryffindor, and Kyo soon followed him to the table decked out in red and gold.

As Yuki heard his name called up, a strange ringing started in his ears and he was only vaguely aware of the hat being placed on his head. It spoke to him, he could feel it looking through his brain and was relieved to find that it didn’t look into the doors of his mind that were so tightly locked that Yuki himself probably couldn’t get into them.

“Yes, you have such a sharp mind, but I don’t see too much passion for the sake of learning... You have the ability to be brave, yes, but also many walls that may prevent you from reaching your true potential -oh, don’t sass me!- There is lots of loyalty to your close friends, but also a fair amount of distrust to those you don’t know… Well, I think you’d be best in SLYTHERIN!”

Yuki felt himself move away from the stool without really realizing it, until he looked up and saw Hanajima’s face watching him from nearby at the Slytherin table. He went to sit next to her and she nodded at him, and they both turned around to watch the rest of the students get sorted.  
Uotani, Arisa was one of the final students to be sorted, and Yuki watched as Kyo rolled his eyes when she sat next to him at the Gryffindor table, enthusiastically talking to the other new first years there. One of Yuki’s other relatives, Kagura, was making her way over to Kyo, and Yuki looked away, uninterested in whatever roughhousing would come from the two of them.

He glanced around at the other Slytherins, none of whom seemed to be paying much attention to the speech the headmaster was giving, and counted three other first year boys. Yuki wondered if any of them would talk to him; he hoped they wouldn’t. He just wanted to get the years of school over with so he could graduate and gain freedom, although he knew how unlikely that was to happen.

Turning to Hanajima again, he saw her gazing Tohru across the room with an almost wistful expression on her face. She, similar to Yuki himself, seemed uninterested in talking to the other students, and it seemed as if they had no problem not talking to her, either.

“So, Hanajima, what are you looking forward to studying at Hogwarts?” Yuki asked. Hanajima cocked her head at him.

“I only came to be with Tohru.”

“Oh. So you and Tohru are very close then?” He tried again to get the conversation flowing. 

“Yes.” Was her only reply. Yuki, foreseeing a long and awkward next seven years, nodded and moved his attention to the food that had just appeared on the tables.

“She is too innocent for this cruel world. I don’t know if she will survive the atmosphere that surrounds this school.” Hanajima continued, as if she hadn’t stopped talking for a solid minute.

“Despite what it may seem like, I think Hogwarts is actually a pretty good school,” Yuki tried to console her. “My whole family has gone to this school, and they all came out alri…” His sentence trailed to an end as he thought about his family and how they definitely were not alright. “Well, they’re alright at magic, at any rate.”

Hanajima raised her eyebrows at him. “Thank you for that.”

Yuki grinned when she spoke with such a dry voice, relieved that she had some sense of humor.

“I’m sure she’ll be fine. And anyway, she seems to have two devoted friends to take care of her,” He said pointedly. “You seem pretty competent to me.”

“Who seems competent?” A voice chimed in from across the table. “I’m Daniel, by the way. Charming to meet you.” The blonde haired, blue eyed boy seemed to have no qualms butting into their conversation as he spoke. 

“And you. I’m Yuki Sohma.” Yuki replied, not used to talking to so many people in one day and feeling swamped with the amount of socializing that had happened so far.

“I’m Saki Hanajima.”

“I don’t recognize either of your family names, are you from here?”

“No, we’re both from Japan,” Yuki told him.

“So you already know each other, then? I only really know Rashid there, and Charlotte,” He motioned towards two first years near them. “Our families are all friends. And of course we’ve all heard of the Malfoys,” He pointed at a pale blonde boy sitting a few rows away who seemed to be laughing loudly at someone across the hall. He looked a bit older than them. “And Harry Potter, I’m sure you’ve heard of him, he actually… isn’t here right now. That's odd. Not that he’s a Slytherin. Anyway, there are lots of well known families you want to be wary of. That’s Pansy Parkinson, she’s another family, er, acquaintance of mine. Anyway, I’m probably boring you. Just be careful who you get too chummy with, if you don’t know anyone.” He promptly turned to talk to his friend Rashid, and a few of the first year girls eagerly leaned in.

“Well, that was strange,” Yuki said.

“Apparently, wizarding politics are dramatic here right now. There are a lot of families who have turned to the ‘dark side’, and a lot of them are Slytherin families,” Hanajima informed him.

“How do you know that? I mean, I guess I really didn’t study much of Great Britain before I came here. Is Slytherin a bad place to be?” Yuki asked.

“There is a lot of prejudice against us, but it won’t be too much of a problem.”

“I’ll trust you on that,” Yuki laughed nervously. He looked across the room to see Kyo stuffing food in his mouth angrily while Kagura was hanging off of him, and Uotani was laughing gleefully at the scene. A little ways away, Tohru seemed to be eating quietly while others talked loudly around her, looking overwhelmed.

Hanajima seemed to have noticed as well. “I should have sat with her even though it isn’t my house.” Her face had genuine regret on it, which surprised Yuki. He was realizing that she only emoted around Tohru.

“Well,” Yuki pondered, “Let’s see what it’s like in the morning. Maybe the houses won’t be so separated and we can sit by her then.”

“I didn’t take you to be a rule breaker, Yuki Sohma.”

Yuki choked on the pumpkin juice he had been tasting cautiously. “I’m not, I promise you,” He looked at her sideways, “I just think Tohru’s a nice person, and she doesn’t deserve to be unhappy.”

“No, she doesn’t.” Hanajima stated matter-of-factly. “In the morning, we will find her.”

Yuki felt something warm in his chest at the thought that he would have friends to sit with when he came down to breakfast, and a faint pink rose to his cheeks when he grinned at Hanajima. He would still stick by the fact that she was strange, but that definitely didn’t make her unlikeable in any way. In fact, Yuki could see himself growing into good friends with this eccentric goth girl who loved her friend Tohru so dearly. 

\---

The feast came to an end and prefects were ordered to show the first years to their common rooms. Apparently, the Slytherin common room was in the dungeons, which didn’t sound particularly pleasant to Yuki. He spent the walk down just hoping it wouldn’t be too small or too dark. He didn’t think he could survive living there if it was. Thankfully, when they arrived, there were a few tired gasps of delight when they walked through the wall-turned-corridor and into the common room. There was a giant glass window that stretched all the way across one of the walls and seemed to be illuminating some kind of water, through which they could see fish darting around outside. There were plush chairs all around, and warm fireplaces cast glowing light onto the different greens and silvers and dark woods of the furniture that surrounded them.

Yuki sensed Daniel as he walked up behind him. “They make the Slytherin common room the fanciest, naturally, since almost everyone here is from a rich pureblood family. I heard all the tables are hand made by the best wizarding designers.”

He wondered why Daniel was telling him this, but it seemed as if he was relatively harmless, if just a bit of a snobbish know it all. In the least offensive way possible, of course.

“That’s interesting.” Yuki responded, somewhat at a loss of what else to say. He really didn’t care where a couple of chairs came from.

“Isn’t it? I wonder what our dormitories will look like. Probably high quality.”

Yuki could feel someone staring at him from behind, and looking back he saw Hanajima with a hand covering her mouth. Nobody was trying to talk to her. He narrowed his eyes at her in jest and then followed the instructions to get into the first years boy’s dormitory.

Their luggage was all already there, thankfully. Yuki had forgotten all about it. Exhausted from a long day of socializing, he put on his pajamas without paying much mind to the three other boys, and fell into bed.

Yuki dreamed that night. Hanajima and Tohru were sitting with him at a table for breakfast, but they realized they were being chased by giant rice balls and had to run outside, which happened to be by the beach. A giant seahorse, his cousin Hatori presumably, was acting like a beached whale, unable to breathe, until Kyo came and fed him some specialty snow from Japan. Yuki woke up in a sweat, worried about snow that was melting too fast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I sorted them. And Yuki and Hanajima are friends now, which I didn't see coming. But it's a thing. Thanks for reading as always, and I would love to hear what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

The morning came too early for Yuki. He had never been someone who was up at the crack of dawn, and it seemed as if life at Hogwarts wasn’t going to change that. He grumbled as he heard the laughing of the three other dormitory occupants, their movement too loud for him to continue his blissful sleep, but not quite annoying him enough to persuade him to leave his cozy pile of warmth. However much he said he didn’t care about the levels of fanciness, the beds were extremely comfortable. 

“Oi, Yuki! Get up, you don’t wanna be late,” Daniel called over from where he was sitting on his bed, pulling on a jumper. “We’re getting our schedules this morning.”

Yuki groaned and rolled over, pulling a blanket over his face. It was too early. He finally dragged himself out of bed when he heard the opening and closing of the dormitory door, and the quiet that came after as two of the boys left the room. He really didn’t want to be late; it was important to him to make a good impression on his new peers, but did they really have to get up already?

His sour mood lasted all through his hurried preparations for the day, his tie being tied clumsily and his robes a bit wrinkled. If Hanajima noticed his bleary appearance, she didn’t mention it as they left the common room together. Yuki was flattered she had even waited for him, and smiled at her as genuinely as possible when he saw her standing by the door, looking flawless in her robes and somehow darker-than-normal uniform.

“How did you sleep, Hanajima?” Yuki asked politely. He would be damned if he wasn’t going to keep up his considerate behavior.

“Well, I was up quite late listening to all the different vibes that surround the dormitory, but I think I got adequate sleep anyway,” She told him.

“The different vibes?” Yuki had no clue what she was talking about, but didn’t want to seem rude. He was too tired for this.

“Yes, I feel them all around. Your vibes are quite… unique.” She said, glancing sideways at him.

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No, not necessarily. They just don’t seem quite human.”

Yuki flinched slightly as she spoke, but she didn’t seem to recognize anything wrong as they continued their walk out of the dungeons and to the great hall.

“...I see.” He chuckled nervously. Thankfully, it didn’t seem as if Hanajima was the hugging type, hopefully meaning she wouldn't ever truly find out his secret.

“I hope we get there before Tohru does, so we can find her a seat,” Hanajima continued. “She’s always too polite to refuse to sit with other people, and I hope she doesn’t become uncomfortable. We left rather late.”

Yuki glanced at her, wondering if she was angry for having to wait for him, but she showed no sign of any emotion.

“I tend to sleep late, I’m sorry.” He apologized anyway.

Hanajima didn’t respond as they reached the entrance to the great hall, looking around for signs of people they knew. Yuki’s eyes rested on Kagura at the exact same time she saw him, and she came rushing over with her misleading shy enthusiasm.

“Yun-chan! I didn’t see you last night!” She hugged him playfully and he tried to push her off without seeming rude, eventually managing to move her while she pouted. He could hear Hanajima snicker behind him. 

“I think you were too focused on that idiotic cat.” Yuki told her. Her face lit up and she squealed delightedly. 

“Right! Kyo is a gryffindor just like me! I’m so proud.”

Just then Yuki heard Hanajima move away, and looked up to see Tohru walk into the great hall with a few other first year hufflepuffs. She seemed much more at ease than she had the night before.

“Excuse me, Kagura. I’ve just seen a friend of mine and I have to go.”

Despite Yuki’s protests, Kagura linked her arms with his and grinned. “I’m always happy to make new friends.”

Yuki groaned inwardly, but affected a gracious smile and led her to Tohru, who was already talking excitedly to Hanajima.

“Hi Yuki! How did you like the Slytherin common rooms? Hanajima told me they have some lovely waves.”

“Do you see waves too?” Yuki asked, suddenly worried he was somehow dysfunctional in that regard.

“I think you feel them instead of see them, right Hana-chan? Or sorry, Hana? I don’t feel them myself, but Hana is amazing and can tell all about many things because of them!”

Hanajima smiled almost bashfully. “Tohru, you’re too good to me. It’s not that special.”

Yuki suddenly remembered Kagura when she impatiently cleared her throat.

“Oh! I’m sorry, I don’t think we’ve been introduced! I’m Tohru.” 

“Ah, I’m sorry for not introducing you two. Tohru, this is my cousin, Kagura. She comes from the same house in Japan as I do. Kagura, you already know Tohru now,” Yuki supplied.

Kagura smiled shyly. “Nice to meet you,” She said in her high voice.

Tohru visibly blushed as she responded in kind to Kagura.

“Tohru, would you like to find a place to sit with us?” Hanajima asked after they had conversed for a few moments, gesturing to herself and Yuki.

“Are you sure that’s allowed?” Tohru asked concernedly, but Hanajima brushed it off and pulled her towards an empty seat at the end of the slytherin table

\----

A few minutes later, a certain annoyed, orange haired boy was pulled over by the similarly-angry seeming blonde girl. Uotani pushed Kyo into a seat near the group, and then squeezed herself in between Tohru and Hanajima. 

“So, what’d we miss?” She asked brightly, apparently not actually angry at all.

“Oi, I don’t wanna sit near that damn rat!” Kyo growled.

“Grow up.” Yuki muttered quietly, earning an approving glance from Uotani.

“Didn’t know you had it in you, prince.”

“What, to get exasperated by a complete idiot? Don’t worry, I’m really not that soft.”

“You don’t like mornings, do you Yuki?” Tohru commented cheerfully. She seemed completely at ease next to her friends.

“I suppose not.” Yuki said softly, somewhat embarrassed now.

“Bit of an understatement,” Kyo said snidely, until Yuki gave up and kicked him cleanly off of his seat.

Uotani whistled. “I didn’t know you knew how to fight.”

“I do.” He replied simply, and began to eat.

Kagura and Uotani already knew each other because they were both in gryffindor, so Yuki didn’t bother to introduce anyone else, instead focusing on his breakfast.

The mail arrived shortly afterwards, Tohru receiving a letter from her mother asking how she was and telling her to respond with everything that had happened so far. Tohru was grinning happily as she read it. Kyo also received one, from Kazuma his adopted father, and Yuki surreptitiously glanced at it over his shoulder. He wasn’t jealous, per se, he was just interested in seeing what it would be like to have someone who cared about his well-being. Kyo noticed him reading from behind and moved away suspiciously.

“When will we get our schedules?” Uotani asked through a mouthful of porridge. She grimaced slightly, complaining about the dreary food.

“It looks like they’re being handed out by our house prefects. You could probably go ask them,” Yuki informed her. Everyone filed out of their seats and to their own houses until he was left sitting across from Hanajima and far away from any of the other students.

“I have a feeling we won’t be making many other friends in slytherin,” Yuki commented casually. “They all seem kind of annoyed from all the commotion we’ve stirred.”

“Well, I wasn’t looking for friends.” Hanajima told him. Yuki privately agreed with her, but didn’t feel the need to mention it.

“You really did come just for Tohru, didn’t you?”

“I consider it my duty to protect her. She has helped me a lot in my life, it’s only fair to do the same.”

A prefect came at that moment, handing them their schedules and looking exasperated at all the abandoned half-full bowls of food sitting around them.

Looking at their schedules, they had all the same classes since they were both first year slytherins, but there were no indications of what classes they would share with other first years. A few seconds later, however, Tohru and Kyo were both being dragged back over to the table by Uotani, who had a big grin on her face.

“We have so many classes together!” She was yelling excitedly to Tohru, who was nodding happily.

“Hanajima, what do you have?” They traded schedules, and learned that the slytherins and hufflepuffs both had their first class, charms, together as well as late night astronomy. Yuki stifled a groan when he learned that he had both transfiguration and potions with the gryffindors, meaning he would be spending a lot of time with his dear cousin Kyo. They all sat down to finish eating quickly, so they would make it to their first class on time.

\----

Hanajima, Tohru, and Yuki ended up walking to the charms classroom, or trying to walk there at any rate, together. They ended up being a few seconds late because they managed to get spectacularly lost, but the tiny charms teacher didn’t seem to notice as they quietly took their seats. The class passed rather quickly, not really focusing on actual use of any charms yet, and Yuki grew bored. He was staring out the giant window when he noticed the students on brooms, flying around a giant sports arena of some kind. He wondered if that was the ‘quidditch’ game he had heard Daniel and the others talking about earlier. Yuki himself had already learned most of the spells they were hearing about in the lesson, being forced by his mother to present as perfect at everything, but he’d never really been on a broom before. Many of the Sohma children played some kind of magical sport before they left for Hogwarts, but Yuki had never been allowed to socialize with the others. Flying looked interesting, at least.

“Mr. Sohma?” He was jolted back to the present by the professor’s concerned voice, and he looked around confusedly in hope of a way to know what was being asked of him.

“I’m sorry professor, could you repeat that?” He asked as the class giggled. Next to him, Tohru was watching him worriedly and Hanajima was staring with her piercing gaze.

“I was asking if you knew what the charm was for unlocking things?”

“Of course, it’s alohomora, professor,” Yuki said in relief. He knew these simple charms like the back of his hand. Looking to his left he caught the look of awe on Tohru’s face after he answered, and blushed slightly. When the class ended, she congratulated him enthusiastically.

“I didn’t know you knew all about the spells already, Yuki! You must be so smart!”

“I’m not, really,” he said dully. It wasn’t her fault she didn’t know he was forced to be perfect, and had an easier go of it either way because of the rat spirit inside him.

“But you are! I haven’t learned anything yet, I don’t think I would have acted half as cool as you did if he had called on me.”

“Thanks, Tohru,” he said, wanting to end the conversation already. He wasn’t smart, he just had unfair advantages that he desperately didn’t want to flaunt in front of everyone.

“What class do you have after lunch, Tohru?” Hanajima chimed in, changing the conversation easily.

“Oh! I don’t remember, let me check.” She grabbed her schedule from her pocket and it was pulled out of her hands as a gust of wind blew through an open window, forcing the three of them to run after it and into an empty room. As they walked in, an eerie silence filled the air and their shoes tapped loudly against the stone floor when they walked.

“Where do you suppose we are?” Tohru whispered, not wanting to break the spell of quiet.

“It looks like an unused classroom, but it seems really… strange.” Yuki responded, looking at the cobwebs and old cushions plied in the corners. Tohru ran to get her schedule from where it had fallen under a desk, and they walked out of the room as quickly as they could.

“I wonder if there are lots of old classrooms in this castle. I mean, it’s giant.” Tohru said once they were walking back in the great hall for lunch.

“I bet there are. I mean, just from walking around today I’ve seen way too many doors than can be used as rooms. This place would be really interesting to study in detail. Anyway, we never did figure out what your next class was, did we?” Yuki remembered suddenly.

“Oh, right! I have…” She glanced at the paper, “herbology.”

“And we have defense against the dark arts,” Hanajima reminded Yuki. “I don’t want to go, the professor is an idiot with appalling waves. You have fun.”

“Hana! You should go to class!” Tohru pleaded immediately. “We aren’t supposed to get behind on our studies.”

Hanajima’s will seemed to crack instantly when Tohru spoke to her. “Fine, I’ll go for a little while.”

Tohru’s bright smile in reply seemed to be enough to satisfy Hanajima, and they left for their classes as soon as lunch was over.

\----

They entered the classroom on time this time, and Yuki moved to sit at the front of the class until he felt a push from Hanajima forcing him to the back. They ended up in the farthest back row and Yuki looked at her crossly.

“Why do you want to sit all the way back here? We won’t be able to see anything.”

“You’ll thank me later,” she replied. When Professor Lockhart confidently let out a bunch of garden gnomes that seemed to have a penchant for blood, Yuki found Hanajima to be right.

“So, how can you tell things like that before they happen? Are you a seer?” Yuki asked her while they watched the students in the front rows scramble away.

“The waves tell me. But I don’t use them for much anymore. We should go,” she added when they realized most of the class had already left. “I knew this teacher would be an imbecile.”

“Apparently some students actually think he’s attractive,” Yuki told her disbelievingly. She scoffed at him and he laughed. “I don’t know, ask them!”

They left the classroom in a hurry, not wanting to be the last ones stuck with Lockhart.

“Well, we just got a free two hours to spend before dinner, do you want to go see what the library is like?” Yuki asked. They had been directed by Flitwick to check out multiple different books to study, and while Yuki was fairly certain he knew most of the material already, he wasn’t one to miss out on an opportunity to get ahead. Lockhart hadn’t even had a chance to talk about their homework.

“I suppose so. I don’t study very much,” Hanajima said.

“You can probably use your waves to learn things, can’t you?”

“No, I just don’t care enough.”

“Oh.”

They continued their walk in silence until they reached the library. Many older students were already holed away studying in corners, and Yuki felt the quiet atmosphere calm him down. It smelled musty and bookish and there were streams of light coming through the windows, illuminating flecks of dust and sturdy wooden desks. It was peaceful in a way that made Yuki decide then and there that this would be where he spent his free time.

“It’s beautiful,” he breathed.

“Yes,” Hanajima agreed, watching him with interest. “What were we told to st-”

“Oi!” She was interrupted by a crass yell, and Yuki closed his eyes and breathed heavily through his nose, spinning around to look at Kyo as he stood angrily behind them.

“What do you want?”

“You’ve been following me around everywhere! I have a free period but when I go to the library you’re even waiting for me there! Why are you stalking me, you stupid rat?”

“Why would I possibly want to follow you? The world doesn’t revolve around you, you know,” Yuki growled. Kyo took a step towards him but was stopped by Uotani, who had just rounded the corner and looked like she was about to throw something.

“You idiot, you’re going to get Hanajima in trouble for being so loud in a library.” She hit the back of his head with a book. “Take it elsewhere.”

Uotani was too late, and they were all chased out of the library by an irate Madam Pince. They walked into a nearby empty classroom irritably.

“Must you always make a scene?” Yuki asked Kyo, whose breathing had turned ragged as he stared at Yuki.

“Maybe you should mind your own business! Wanna fight?!”

As they began to attack each other, Hanajima and Uotani watched interestedly, clapping humorously when Yuki inevitably knocked Kyo to the ground.

“Nice one, prince.” Uotani snorted, watching Kyo get up slowly. “What were you doing at the library anyway? It’s only our first day and I won’t believe for a minute that Hanajima wanted to study.”

“She was kind enough to come with me, since we got out of defense against the dark arts early-”

“The teacher is a complete dimwit,” Hanajima supplied.

“-because he let out a bunch of gnomes that he couldn’t actually deal with, so we went to see what the library was like,” Yuki finished.

Uotani narrowed her eyes, looking between Hanajima and Yuki suspiciously, but then shook her head and laughed loudly. “This school is insane. What kind of teacher would do that?” She regarded Kyo for a second before adding, “Oi orange-head, come here and help us think of what to do.”

“What do you mean, what to do? Leave me alone, that’s what.”

“Aww, little Kyo is butthurt because he didn’t win a fight. Let’s all cry with him,” she pulled her finger down her cheek in an exaggerated tear-like motion. 

“Shut up, idiot.” He groused, moving to sit on a desk. “Why are you picking on me, anyway? If you have to annoy someone, annoy that stupid Yuki,” Kyo pointed towards him dramatically.

Yuki sighed and turned away, facing the two girls instead. “We still have a lot of free time,” he said, completely ignoring Kyo. “Do you want to go outside and look at the..” he hesitated, hoping he was saying it right, “quidditch pitch?"

“You know, I’m starting to learn you’re not so bad,” Uotani laughed, approval written on her face. “Let’s go, nerds.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'all. how did I not realize the capacity for Hana and Yuki to be friends? it's perfect and they will be the baby gay squad. no one can stop me.


	4. Chapter 4

The trek outside took nearly twenty minutes in itself, partially because they were still so unfamiliar with the castle and kept getting lost. Once they made it to the field, they each took a moment to look at the giant stadium-like structure that made up the place quidditch was played. The grass waved slowly in the slight breeze. 

“Hey ratboy, I challenge you!” Kyo said loudly.

“Challenge me to what, exactly?” Yuki sighed. He liked Hanajima, but he wasn’t sure how much more of Kyo he could take and it seemed as if Uotani and Kyo were already a package deal.

“Quidditch, obviously! Look around, we’re in a quidditch pitch aren’t we?”

“On that note,” Uotani completely disregarded Kyo, “Are you going to try out for your quidditch team, Prince?”

He laughed awkwardly, embarrassed to say he’d never played and didn’t even know the rules. “Umm, I don’t think so. Maybe next year. Are you?”

“Obviously! Quidditch is the game to play! Apparently the only first year to play on the team in the past century is that Harry Potter guy, but I bet I’d be good enough.”

Yuki shielded his eyes from the sun as he looked up at the three hoops in the sky. “What is with him, anyway? Why is he so famous?”

“None of you listen, do you?” Hanajima answered. They all looked at her, surprised that she spoke at all. “He killed the evil wizard Voldemort, the famous one even we heard about, when we were in Japan.”

“He’s like, twelve, Hanajima. That’s one year older than us. I think your facts are off.” Uotani scoffed, moving to lay down on the grass casually.

“It happened when he was a baby. His parents are dead.”

Kyo swallowed audibly, and Yuki elected not to say anything in this particular moment.

“Why did they die?” Kyo asked quietly.

“They were trying to save him, but they both got killed.”

“And you’re trying to tell me a baby killed this all-powerful, evil wizard? Shut up.” Uotani laughed. She didn’t notice Kyo’s hand clench into a fist as he looked down, face full of emotion.

Yuki watched him, losing track of the conversation going on between Hanajima and Uotani. Akito had told him that Kyo’s mother had killed herself, possibly because of Kyo and the cat spirit that possessed him. Hearing about parents dying to save their children was obviously a sore spot for Kyo, and he could tell in the way his eyes hardened when he noticed Yuki looking at him that Kyo wouldn’t be opening up anytime soon.

“-kill him? Poor kid.” Uotani was saying when Yuki focused back into their discussion. He coughed.

“We should probably head back soon, it’s getting late,” Yuki said.

“We could meet Tohru at the greenhouse, she just had herbology,” Uotani added. They all left the pitch and began the hike back to the school.

Somehow, Yuki had found himself a group of friends immediately after arriving at Hogwarts. It scared him, if he was perfectly honest. He didn’t want to get attached, he didn’t want to have something to look forward to in the mornings. It would only make going back at the end of the day, going back to the Sohmas, that much harder. Now that he was beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, he was realizing just how hard it would be to turn around and walk back into the darkness. The darkness, and the small room, and the whispered words he listened to for so long. He shouldn’t be making friends.

But as he looked at Kyo and Uotani squabbling like an old married couple, and at Hanajima watching them almost tenderly, and Tohru running out to greet them with a wide smile and joyful laughter, he already knew he couldn’t give it up. And that was terrifying.

They ate dinner at their respective tables, Yuki and Hanajima sitting together at the far end of the slytherin table. They didn’t feel the need to talk to each other, instead eating in companionable silence, so Yuki took the time to further study the other slytherins. Draco Malfoy, one of the people Daniel had told him about, was jeering at a boy across the hall, and two boys sitting next to him were guffawing at his joke. He seemed downright unpleasant to Yuki, with his perfect blonde hair and pointy face. A girl about the same age sat near him, Pansy Parkinson, who was talking loftily to the girl who Daniel said he was a family friend of… Chloe? Camile? And she responded with her chin held high and her eyes flashing, her angry expression not quite concealed by her polite manners.

“People watching are we?” Daniel asked, dropping down into the seat beside Yuki. “That Pansy Parkinson needs to watch herself or Charlie’s gonna blow a fuse,” he laughed. “She’s a real spark, Charlotte.”

“Why is she being so polite, then?” Yuki asked, not sure why he was going along with the conversation. Daniel really got on his nerves.

“Ah, that’s the slytherin way, my friend. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, and all that. I think you’re already quite good at the whole thing, but that’s just my guess.”

Yuki looked at him, surprised he was so astute. He thought he had acted well enough to simply seem like a nice person, but apparently Daniel had seen through more than Yuki would have liked.

Daniel leaned his chin on his hand and gazed at Yuki, looking smug. “I’m not an idiot, you know,” he added when he saw Yuki’s face.

Yuki frowned, realizing how he had misjudged him, and was about to say something when he was interrupted by Daniel’s voice, which had returned to its regular pompous tone.

“Oi Rashid, how do you reckon you’ll do at herbology tomorrow?” And just like that, he disregarded his conversation with Yuki.

When Yuki looked up from his food again a few minutes later, he saw Charlotte walking briskly away from the table, evidently trying to hide how livid she was. He wondered if this was what life was always like as a slytherin.

Dinner ended and the group of friends reconvened in the hallway outside of the dining hall. Hanajima had gotten up to find Tohru before she disappeared to the hufflepuff common room and Yuki, for lack of anything better to do, had followed. They were left standing together wondering where they should go that was an acceptable place for all of them, finally settling on finding an unused classroom.

“We should probably study,” Tohru suggested once they had found a suitable room. “We were supposed to learn the charm for light but I can’t remember what it was.”

“Yeah, we were supposed to write a short paper for history of magic but that class is seriously boring. The professor is a literal ghost,” Uotani informed them, jumping up on a desk.

“Wow, there’s a ghost teacher? That’s so cool!” Tohru gushed, apparently delighted at the prospect of actually meeting and talking to a ghost.

“Tohru, I could help you if you want,” Yuki suggested timidly, going back to their earlier discussion. “I know the charm for light already.”

Her smile was bright enough to light up the room, but she was cut off from speaking by a loud groan from Uotani.

“You mean you actually want to study? You guys are so lame, it’s basically our first day here. Live a little!”

Kyo, who had been convinced to be there by a pleading Tohru that nobody could say no to, moved towards Uotani. “For once, I agree with the delinquent. Just studying is boring. I challenge you!” He yelled again at Yuki, who sighed.

“Is that all you’re going to say when we’re in the same room, idiot?”

“I will win against you, no matter what! You can complain all you want, but I’m gonna beat you! I have to.” his voice broke as he finished talking, and Yuki could see Tohru watching him confusedly. He could almost see her brain trying to figure out what Kyo meant. Yuki cleared his throat, not wanting to get involved in that mess right before bed.

“Well challenge me some other time then, I’m busy being a normal human who has to study,” he said, ignoring Kyo’s pointed snort at the ‘normal human’ part of his sentence. “Anyway, would you like me to show you the charm?” He asked Tohru.

They moved to the back of the class and he began to teach her how to hold her wand. Hanajima pulled a romance novel out of the air and began to read it, sitting at a desk and looking extremely focused, while Kyo and Uotani started arguing about who was better at magic. They stayed there for almost an hour enjoying each other’s company, until they were interrupted by a long haired, pale girl with a wistful look on her face. She came sauntering casually in, looked at each of them, and then smiled dreamily. Yuki and Kyo shared a confused glance before scowling and turning away from each other quickly.

“You know, you all have a lot of wrackspurts,” she told them. She paused for a moment before adding, “Are you out of your common room on purpose? Is this a rebellion?”

“What?” Uotani asked bewilderedly as the girl started humming to herself.

“Oh, you’re not supposed to be out so late. Didn’t you know? I’m Luna, by the way,” she responded.

“Wait a second. Why’re you out then?” Kyo shot at her.

“It’s a lovely time of night to look at the stars. I didn’t want to miss it just because I’m at Hogwarts now.”

“What house are you in?” Uotani questioned.

“I’m a ravenclaw, but none of you are in that house.”

“No…” Uotani replied. “Want to study with us tomorrow?” She asked suddenly.

Yuki and Kyo looked at her wildly, wondering why she would possibly this girl to study with them, but she only grinned at Luna and cocked her head.

“I’ve never studied with anyone before,” Luna told them seriously. “But I think that would be nice. You’ll be here?”

“Yeah,” Uotani told her cheerfully. “See you then!” 

Luna had already started to leave the classroom, apparently now serious about the rules, and Kyo rounded on Uotani.

“Why would you ask her that? She’s obviously insane!”

“But she was so weird,” Uotani pouted at him. “And so are we! We couldn’t just leave her to be alone. Besides, I would go looking at the stars with her any day over hanging out with you.”

“Then why do you drag me everywhere?” Kyo yelled, while Yuki looked at him scornfully.

Tohru piped up from behind them, causing all of their heads to turn toward her until she blushed lightly. “I think she seemed sweet. And did you see how cool her clothes were? She even had radish earrings. I wish I were that creative.”

“Of course you think she’s cool,” Kyo muttered. “You even think Hanajima’s outfit is fashionable.”

Uotani suddenly pulled out a lead pipe and pointed it at Kyo threateningly. “Hanajima is the height of fashion and she can wear whatever she wants. Wanna fight?”

Yuki huffed and then raised his voice to be heard over the din. “You realize the louder you are and the longer we stay, the more likely we are to get in trouble.” He turned and swiftly walked out of the classroom. Hanajima followed him out, and the rest moved behind her. They split up at the end of the corridor, and waved their goodbyes as quietly as they could before sneaking back to their dormitories.

“I hope Tohru doesn’t get caught,” Hanajima commented as they walked.

“You don’t care if Uotani and Kyo do?” Yuki joked.

“Arisa can handle herself and the orange boy doesn’t matter to me.”

Yuki snorted at ‘orange boy’. “That’s for sure. Where does Uotani even keep that metal pipe hidden, anyway?”

“I can’t tell you that,” she told him, sounding too serious for it to be a joke.

“...Okay,” Yuki said, not wanting to delve any further down that particular line of thinking. “We’re here,” he commented unnecessarily as they reached the common room and parted for their separate dormitories.

When Yuki opened the door, he was bombarded by obnoxious cooing from Daniel.

“Ooh, Yuki, I didn’t know Hanajima was your girlfriend. What were you doing out so late together?” He laughed loudly as the other boys snickered.

“We’re friends,” Yuki told them peevishly. The third boy in his year, Anthony, waved him off.

“Hanajima’s so weird. Why do you even hang out with her? She’s mental,” he jeered. Yuki felt his heart rate increase. He couldn’t deal with bullying. He knew if he wanted to he could physically hurt Anthony, but really, where would that get him? And Hanajima probably wouldn’t care either way.

Yuki smiled at Anthony and shrugged noncommittally. “She’s nice.”

“Woah, Yuki. That’s one scary smile,” Daniel muttered from where Anthony couldn’t hear him. “You look like you’re going to punch his teeth out.”

“Then maybe he shouldn’t be so rude.” Yuki smiled back threateningly.

“Well, now I know to never cross you.” Daniel told him easily, before turning to Anthony and telling him, “She’s actually pretty cool when you really talk to her. G’night.”

He looked back at Yuki and grinned before climbing into bed. Yuki was unsure what to do. Daniel was respected by the others and he was using that power to his advantage, but using it for Yuki’s sake. Why was Daniel helping him, of all people? There were other people he could benefit a lot more from, and Yuki was just an outcast, he always had been. This place was weird, he decided. He climbed into bed.

\----

The next morning was their first Herbology class, the class Yuki had been looking forward to the most. He loved gardening. They had the class with the ravenclaws, and as they walked to the greenhouses Yuki saw the girl they had talked to the night before, Luna, making her way down as well. He wasn’t sure if he should say something to her, since she was alone and didn’t look like she had anyone to talk to, but Yuki let his social anxiety get the better of him and moved to stand next to Hanajima instead. She raised her eyebrows at him slightly as if she had seen the internal struggle he had gone through, but elected not to say anything. 

“Do you like plants, Hanajima?” Yuki asked her conversationally.

“I don’t really have much of an opinion, I wasn’t around them at home.”

“I wasn’t either,” he told her, not wanting to share very much about why he wasn’t able to be around plants. “But I find them fascinating. I would always try to find books on them and sneakily read them.” He realized too late that he had given away the fact that he had to sneak around. Oh well, maybe Hanajima would think that his parents were anti-gardening or something.

She didn’t reply, and the subject was dropped.

“Welcome to herbology!” A homely looking witch greeted them. She called herself Professor Sprout, which Yuki found amusing. Apparently, they were going to learn about different soil and feeding techniques before actually studying the plants, and Yuki found himself to be extremely disappointed. The plants in England were so different from the ones they had in Japan, and Yuki hadn’t been able to see even the Japanese magical plants very often. Yuki wasn’t very patient.

By the end of the class, most of the students were covered in manure and complaining loudly. Yuki had had a great time, and had done both his and Hanajima’s work, since she had quietly refused to get her hands dirty. He hadn’t minded, and Professor Sprout had complimented his skills. They left after Yuki washed his hands, Hanajima waiting for him in the corner, watching the other students.

“That girl, Luna, is very strange,” she commented to Yuki.

“She doesn’t seem too bad,” he said, silently wondering what constituted as strange to the goth vibe girl.

“She isn’t bad. Strange doesn’t mean bad, Yuki Sohma,” Hanjima said.

He looked at her, feeling a strange urge to laugh. He already felt so close to her and yet she still called him by his full name. Who did that?

“You can just call me Yuki, you know.”

“Then you can call me Saki,” she hesitated, “I guess.”

He looked at her uncertainly. She hadn’t ever shown doubt before, and he felt a little odd calling her Saki. He told her as much. Even Tohru and Uotani didn’t do that, so why had she said that to him?

“You don’t have to,” she backtracked, but was interrupted almost immediately.

“N-no, I will. Let’s, uh, go get lunch, Saki.”

She smiled at him, the first real smile she had ever given him. It made him feel giddy with affection. He found a person who liked him, who smiled at him just for being himself. He had never met anyone who liked him in that way before, and he felt empowered in a way that was new to him. 

A shadow only fell on his happiness once he remembered that she didn’t know who he really was, and he strengthened his resolve to not be found out. He wasn't sure what he would do when Hanajima, no, Saki looked at him in disgust. She would be sickened, of course, and he would probably be ruined.  
In that moment, he almost wanted to go home. It would be so much easier to give up, go back to Akito, to never form attachments. Why couldn’t he go through school without friends, and why did they have to be so kind to him?

He brooded all the way up into the dining hall and through lunch, and barely noticed the worried looks Saki kept sending his way until she spoke again after they began the walk back to their common room.

“If it really makes you feel so strange, you don’t have to call me by my first name.”

Shocked, he jerked his head up and met her eyes. She was looking at him nervously, and Yuki suddenly felt a wave of self loathing roll over him as he held up his hands and said the first thing that came out of his mouth. Well, the first things, anyway.

“No, it’s not that! I’ve just never had a friend who cared about my well being before, and I couldn’t stand to see you hate me, which doesn’t even make sense because I’ve only known you for a few days and yet you all mean so much to me and it’s pathetic. I know you probably barely see me as a friend and here I am thinking you’re all my best friends in the world and I would do anything to keep you and your friendships. And now I’m piling all of this on you, and you probably didn’t even want to get to know me in the first place because I’m such a mess and I’ll never be perfect like everyone else.. And I’m going to.. Stop talking now.”

She watched him silently for a few moments while he fought the urge to bolt. He was staring at the ground, so sure she would laugh at him or scream at him or hurt him, and he nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a cool hand on his arm. He anxiously looked up at her. She smiled softly, her eyes crinkling around the edges, and her hand trailed down until she was holding his hand as she gently tugged him into the common room.

“You’re not mad?” He found himself asking once he was sat in a chair in the corner. He knew he would hate himself later. He would hate that he broke his facade, hate that he sounded so emotional, hate that he acted unsure. But for now, he couldn't help the feelings welling up inside him, threatening to break free.

“No,” she told him evenly. “I’m not mad.”

And with her simple kindness he felt himself break slightly. His eyes welled up, his breathing quickened, and he ran into his dormitory as quickly as his legs could carry him.


	5. Chapter 5

The dormitory wasn’t empty when Yuki arrived, so he sidestepped into the bathroom before anyone could see him in this state. He was so embarrassed already he thought he might just leave school for good if he was caught by anyone else.

“Alright, Yuki?” He heard Daniel’s voice drift in from the other room. A sporadic surge of anger overtook him and he stormed back into the dormitory, taking care that most of his emotions were wiped off his face.

“Why are you nice to me?” He demanded, marching up to Daniel's four poster.

Daniel looked at him with trepidation. This wasn’t how Yuki normally acted and Yuki could tell he was confused, but Daniel decided to laugh it off awkwardly.

“What do you mean? I’m just being a decent person.”

“I don’t think that’s true. You stood up for my friend when you obviously think she’s just as strange as the others do, and you told me in particular all about the different families and people here. And, you keep talking to me when everyone else seems perfectly fine with their own friends. What’s it to you? Stay away from me just like everyone else, I don’t need to feel like your pity project,” Yuki’s voice had grown steadily louder, all his fear and sadness bubbling to the surface and taking the form of anger. He knew Daniel didn’t deserve it. Daniel was nice to him, for god’s sake, and he was getting mad about that? He knew he hadn’t wanted to make friends, but he hadn’t wanted to be cruel, either.

“I see. That’s the last time I help you out, then.” Daniel told him softly. He seemed almost… crestfallen, but his eyes hardened as he watched Yuki floundering.

“Yeah. Don’t,” Yuki said to him unnecessarily before backing out of the room, trying not to trip as he made his second quick escape in a matter of moments.

Well that had gone just great. He was meant to be sorting out his feelings and putting his mask back on, but he instead ruined a budding friendship by lashing out and accusing someone completely innocent just because he was feeling emotional. Not wanting to be seen by Saki as he left his dormitory, he snuck out of the common room and went to the empty classroom that his friends had occupied the night before. He had a free afternoon but was fairly certain the rest of them didn’t, so he was safe to be alone at last.

\---

He listened to his footsteps as he walked in, glad for the silent solitude the empty classroom gave him. He hadn’t been getting a lot of that recently, which was a huge change from his past situation, and while he never liked being alone all the time, he realized just how drained he was from being with people every second of every day.

Saki had been so kind to him. She hadn’t pried, hadn’t talked his ear off or made silly promises or cast him away. She was simply there for him when he needed her in a way he had never known anyone to be there for him before. It was overwhelming, the knowledge that there were people who did things like that for others. Yuki sighed and put his head in his hands. What had he done? He had spilled out so much more than he was willing to share, and for what reason? A smile? What would his mother say if she saw him now? He didn’t want to imagine it. Surely, next time she saw him she would realize what a mistake it was to send him here. Surely, she would force him to stay home after that.

He huffed out a tired breath and lay his head in his arms. School life was exhausting. 

Yuki must have fallen asleep, because the next thing he knew he was being gently tapped awake.

“Yuki, it’s almost dinner time. Why were you sleeping?” The sweet voice of Tohru finally roused him, and he opened his eyes sleepily. When he saw the look on her face, he forced himself to appear alert.

“What’s wrong?”

“H-huh? Oh, nothing, I was just… you know, I…” Her sentence trailed off and she sniffed quietly into her hand. “Don’t worry about me!” She tried again, “I’m great. It’s m-more important to know why you were sleeping!”

“Tohru.” He said sternly. She was one of the worst actors he’d ever met. “Tell me what happened.”

“I… okay. It’s really not a big deal, I just accidentally fell over, and instead of helping me this boy stepped on all my things on purpose and then laughed. And- I knew I wasn’t gonna make friends with everyone! So I don’t see why I’m so bent out of shape over it. He was probably having a bad day himself! Who am I to judge another person like that? He-”

“Tohru.” Yuki said again, putting a hand on her shoulder. She sniffed and watched him as he guided her into a sitting position next to him. “That was a really unkind thing for him to do, and of course you feel bad now. Who was he?” Yuki asked on a second thought, wondering if he could go find him and somehow get revenge. Who could possibly hurt Tohru, of all people?

“I-I don’t know. I think he was a slytherin from your year. But please, don’t get mad at him! He really wasn’t that bad…”

Yuki felt his stomach drop. It couldn’t have been Daniel, could it? He had been so nice to Yuki before, he couldn’t be targeting his friends now. Well, he could be, but Yuki wanted to hope against hope he hadn’t been.

“Was he very blonde, pretty snobbish, and blue eyed?” Yuki asked with trepidation.

“He was blonde, now that you mention it…”

Yuki groaned into his hand, aware that this whole thing had been his fault. Right when he thought he couldn't get any worse. 

“But Yuki, I promise I’m fine. Why were you sleeping alone in a classroom in the middle of the day?” Tohru questioned him gently. 

“We had a free period and I was tired…” He still wasn’t sure he was up for being around everyone yet, especially since it was dinner. He would have to face Daniel, and he didn’t think he was up for apologizing for his behavior and then demanding another apology for Tohru. His head hit the desk he was sitting at with a thud.

“You know, I’m gonna get dinner for us and bring it here,” Tohru mused to herself. “Everyone else will come here after dinner anyway, so we’ll see them.” She whipped around to face him, “I’ll be right back!” and ran out of the classroom.

Tohru was more perceptive than she let on, Yuki thought to himself. She didn’t even have to ask before volunteering to bring them food away from the crowd. Of course, Yuki knew he didn’t deserve it, but he was too tired to beat himself up over it right now. He closed his eyes and drifted off again.

When he woke, he noticed he was positioned on a somewhat comfier chair than the desk he had fallen asleep at, and he furrowed his brow as he moved to a sitting position. Around him, his friends were sitting in groups, quietly reading by the low light of a few candles that cast a warm glow throughout the room. Tohru, as well as Kagura, who apparently happened to be there, were going over wand motions together while Uotani laughed quietly at something Saki told her in the corner of the room. Kyo seemed to be stuck with Luna, looking more and more lost as she explained something to him.

His heart warmed at the sight. They were all being quiet for him, even Kyo, and he felt a little choked up at the thought. He wouldn’t cry again, even he couldn’t bear that, but it was such an overwhelming difference from home that he took a moment to steady himself.

Tohru noticed he was awake and waved softly at him. “I left some extra dinner to your right, if you’re hungry. Kagura here was just teaching me a transfiguration charm! She’s so kind,” Tohru said, gazing up at Kagura who waved her off with a blush.

“I am not!” She squealed. “Kyo doesn’t think I’m nice at all.” 

“I sure don’t,” Kyo called from across the room, looking relieved that he had a distraction from Luna. He ducked when Kagura swung a punch his way, but got caught in the swift kick that followed it and doubled over.

“It’s fine, Tohru,” Yuki calmed her when she tried to run over. “You want to keep out of the way of them. Kagura gets really worked up and you don’t want to be in the crossfire, believe me. Kyo is great at healing from so many attacks anyway.” He added snarkily. 

“If you’re sure…” Tohru winced as Kyo got caught by another hit.

“Even nasty Kyo wouldn’t want you to get hurt for him,” Yuki smirked. “Just let it play out.”

Uotani, who was quickly becoming more interesting to watch than the actual fight, pulled out some popcorn from who knew where and began cheering for Kagura.

“Get ‘im!” She yelled after a particularly hard hit, and laughed when Kyo hissed at her. They had to put an immediate stop to their fight when Professor Sprout walked into the room, looking appalled at the violence.

“Children! What are you doing? Never in my years at Hogwarts have I seen such disregard for the rules. fighting is strictly prohibited!”

Yuki rolled his eyes and then stepped forward with a polite smile. 

“Professor Sprout?” He said to get her attention. She whirled around and affected an expression of relief when she saw Yuki, that quickly turned to concern.

“Mr. Sohma, I can’t believe what these students have been doing! Were you part of this?”

“No, Professor. But if I may say, both Kyo and Kagura have practiced martial arts for years, and neither of them were actually getting hurt-”

He was interrupted by her spluttering as she gestured at Kyo, who was sporting a bloody nose and black eye.

“I promise you Professor, one of Kyo’s charms is healing instantaneously. And Kagura would never go farther than this,” he pointed to Kyo’s face which was already starting to look better. “They were only playing.”

Kyo glowered at him but didn’t say anything, for once following Yuki’s lead in order to avoid trouble.

“Well, Mr. Sohma, if you say so. However,” she turned back to Kyo and Kagura sternly, “take note that no fighting of any kind is allowed at Hogwarts and you would be wise to follow that rule. If I see you fighting again, you will both be in detention immediately!” 

They nodded sullenly at her.

“Thank you, Professor,” Yuki added as she turned to leave. She nodded at him and left the room. Yuki rounded on them as soon as she had disappeared.

“What were you thinking? Don’t expect me to help you again, it’s ridiculous how you keep fighting with everyone.” His anger was fully directed at Kyo, who narrowed his eyes back at him.

“We didn’t need your help,” Kyo spat angrily, but Kagura blocked his view and shushed him.

“Thank you, Yun-chan.”

She was so sincere it threw him off, so he pursed his lips and waved her away modestly. He wasn’t used to people thanking him; he’d never done anything thank you-worthy before. It was kind of nice, really.

“Well, it’s probably time to go, anyway. We don’t want to get caught staying out late as well as fighting,” he said.

\---

The walk back to their dormitories was silent. Yuki felt awkward, he didn’t know what to say to Saki after his outburst, and she didn’t seem to feel the need to say anything either. When they reached the corridor, Yuki waved a little goodbye to her, drawing it out as long as possible so that he wouldn’t have to go up to the boy’s dormitory. She disappeared with a flash of dark cloak, and he was left to face his fear alone. He steeled himself, and walked into the room.

Anthony and Daniel were talking together, and when they saw Yuki they both looked away from him silently, moving further away and murmuring in quieter tones. Feeling uncomfortable, Yuki made his way over to his four poster and sat down, wondering if his whole school career would be filled with awkward silence every night. Maybe he could find an empty classroom to sleep in. 

Giving up on speaking, he drew the curtains around his bed and fell into it. It took him hours to fall asleep.

\---

On Wednesday morning the Slytherins and Gryffindors had transfiguration together with Professor McGonagall, who was very strict and seemed to expect a lot from the first years. This was fine by Yuki, for whom everything came easily, but the rest of the students didn’t seem as content with the quick pace. Kyo complained particularly loudly when McGonagall announced that they were to write a foot long essay on different transfiguration techniques for their first assignment, and he got scolded accordingly. Yuki wasn’t the only one to take satisfaction in the punishment; Uotani laughed loudly until a stern glance was sent her way, and even Saki had a twinkle in her eye.

Yuki found himself increasingly preoccupied with watching Saki’s facial expressions. He loved it when she lit up in her own way, and was learning how she expressed herself in the subtle ways her eyes changed or how her mouth twitched.

After realizing he had been staring for the third time that hour, he decided he had to do something different. He wasn’t being creepy, he justified to himself, he had simply never cared about someone so much before. It was new and exhilarating and he really, really didn’t want to screw it up.

“Mr. Sohma, can you tell us what the counterspell is for normal ongoing magical spells?” McGonagall’s voice intruded upon his thoughts. At least this time Yuki was able to answer her the first time, having heard the question.

When he answered correctly she gave him a tight smile, which was more than any other student had received, and he found he liked getting on teachers’ good sides. He looked across the room to see Kyo staring at him, and smirked in victory. Kyo scowled and looked back down at his chicken-scratch notes.

The class wore on and Yuki found he already knew everything that was being taught. He discreetly rolled out some parchment and began the essay that McGonagall had given them, which wasn’t due for a week. Getting good marks at Hogwarts was going to be easier than he had thought.

“Hey Prince, you really are a teacher’s pet,” Uotani commented as they walked to the great hall for lunch.

“Is that a bad thing?” He asked, genuinely unsure. He’d never been to school before, and didn’t know the social etiquette that came with it. 

“Of course it’s a bad thing, you idiot! Do you wanna get beaten up or something?” Uotani laughed incredulously.

As Yuki opened his mouth to argue, he almost fell as he was knocked aside by a strong push. Daniel looked back at him and called sardonically, “Watch where you’re going Sohma, or were you too interested in your girlfriend to know where you are?”

Anthony, walking behind Daniel, jeered and made kissy noises at Saki before they were both tugged away by the crowd.

“What was that ab- woah.” Uotani interrupted herself when she saw Saki’s stormy facial expression. “You alright there, Hanajima?”

“They will pay for that,” she said quietly. She looked so angry to Yuki he felt himself go into a minor freak out. She really didn’t want to be thought of as his girlfriend. It was understandable, they were only eleven, but did it really warrant that much ferocity? Saki didn’t like him that much after all, he realized. She was just trying to be nice when she befriended him. He felt himself shrink backwards, but forced a look of annoyance onto his face to fight the humility that he felt through his core. 

“They’re such idiots. We’d never be together,” he said, putting on his best haughty voice. Thankfully, neither Kyo nor Uotani were the most observant of people, and they didn’t seem to notice his minor personality lapse. They laughed at the absurdity of it, and Uotani slapped him on the back playfully. Saki was watching him with guarded eyes, and he smiled timidly at her, hoping she didn’t fully hate him. She looked away and he felt his heart drop into his stomach. She definitely hated him.

They all sat at the end of the slytherin table at lunch, and when Tohru joined them she seemed to immediately sense something was off between them. Uotani and Kyo were their usual rowdy selves, but Yuki wasn’t being as charming as usual and he knew Tohru understood that Saki was being even quieter than she usually was. She looked back and forth between them for a while before eventually settling down to eat her lunch. Yuki was thankful she didn’t say anything with everyone else there.

\---

The next class they had wasn’t until the evening, all the way up at the astronomy tower, so Tohru, Yuki, and Saki elected to go study in their favorite empty classroom beforehand. It wasn’t exactly the most comfortable of places, so Yuki offered to try a transfiguration charm to make the chairs more cushy.

“Yuki, you’re so talented! That spell is meant for third years and you’ve done it perfectly,” Tohru gushed when he was able to turn a wooden seat into a somewhat-more-brown-than-usual beanbag.

“It’s just practice,” he told her honestly. “I did a lot of magic before I came here.”

“Still, that takes dedication! You’re amazing!”

He didn’t have the heart to tell her he was forced to do it through no choice of his own, she looked so happy he just couldn’t break it to her.

“W-well, anyway, we should write our transfiguration essays while we have the time. It would probably be a bad idea to wait until the weekend.”

Tohru nodded agreeably and felt around her bag for her textbook, looking panicked when she glanced at him and said, “I lost it,” in the most determined voice he’s ever heard.

“Well, let’s go look for it,” he said encouragingly when her panic only seemed to be increasing. “I’ll help you.”

“That’s so nice of you,” she smiled. “Hana, we’ll just be gone a few minutes.”

Saki barely looked up from her romance novel as they left the room.

“Yuki, are you alright?” Tohru asked when they had traced their steps to the dining hall in near silence. 

“Yes, fine. Why do you ask?” He questioned, knowing full well the reason why.

“It’s just, I thought you and Hana were getting along really well. And I could be wrong, but it seemed as if you were both really uncomfortable at lunch, and now neither of you are talking to each other at all! And I know it’s no place of mine to meddle, so feel free to ignore me. But I’m just worried about you!” She unconsciously played with the hem of her bookbag as she waited for a reply.

Yuki laughed disbelievingly. “You barely know me, but you’re so kind and caring to me and Saki anyway. Tohru, you are a really good person, you know.” 

Avoiding Tohru's question was easy, because for some reason Yuki constantly felt the urge to complement Tohru. He’d never met anyone like her, and for once he was completely genuine when he was being nice instead of the white lies he told almost everyone else. He decided not to question it and just be grateful there was still someone in the world he could sincerely look up to.

She blushed brightly and met his eyes. “Nobody’s ever told me that before!” She covered her face with her hands. “It’s not true, I was just doing my job...”

“No, listen to me,” he said insistently. “I’ve never met anyone like you before. You’re nice to everyone you’ve ever met, even the guy who pushed you down yesterday. That’s not something most people are.”

“Th-thanks, Yuki.” She said, still covering her face with pleased embarrassment. “If you’ll listen to me in return, Hana doesn’t like just anyone, you know. And I can tell she likes you, so please don’t let anything get weird between you from one argument or something,” her eyes widened and she backtracked quickly. “Well, you can do whatever you want! I just mean, that-”

“I know what you mean,” Yuki said slowly. It would be so nice if he could just believe her. “It’s just, I don’t think she really does like me. I think she knows that we’re in the same house, and have the same friends, so we should get along, but doesn’t really care beyond that. She- she got so angry…” he took a moment to breathe.

He could not have another breakdown in front of someone. He already did that once, and look where it got him. So he sighed and continued quietly, more detached, “Daniel, another Slytherin in my year, was teasing us about dating, and she got really mad. I would have been mad too, but not like that. I think she hated the idea of being thought of as close to me. And it’s understandable! I’m not a good friend, I push people away, I-”

“Yuki,” Tohru interrupted, refusing to let him self destruct any more, “I’ve known her for a long time. And if you want my opinion, she’s mad for your sake, not for her own. Hana doesn’t think like that, she thinks more about protecting people than herself. And if she was mad at him, it wasn't for being rude to her, it was for being rude to you.”

Yuki took a step back from the table they had sat down at to talk. She couldn’t possibly- but then Tohru had known her for a while- but-

“I’m sorry, I don’t- I don’t know what to think.”

Tohru looked at him and grinned silently. “I’ll just go look for my textbook in my dormitory… I just remembered I forgot it there this morning.” She told him in the worst imitation of remembering he had ever seen. So she had planned to talk to him. He smiled to himself. There was a lot more to Tohru than what first met the eye, and he could admit to himself for the first time that he desperately wanted to get to know her better.


End file.
